Act Now To Position Nasa Langley For The Future

December 28, 2008|By Doug Dwoyer

NASA Langley Research Center is one of the most valuable economic assets in the Hampton Roads region, accounting for about 3,700 high-quality jobs and a nearly $1 billion economic impact on the state of Virginia. President- elect Barack Obama and the incoming administration have the opportunity to help meet critical national objectives in economic competitiveness, energy independence and developing green technologies by growing Langley's program activity and the jobs base it provides for the Virginia Peninsula.

Over the last decade, the center has been under constant budget pressure and has seen its employment and budget decline dramatically. Things would have been far worse but for the active and persistent advocacy on behalf of the center by concerned citizens in the Hampton Roads community. Ten years ago the community came together to form the NASA Aeronautics Support Team, or NAST, a nonprofit, community-based advocacy group that has directly intervened to restore about half-a- billion dollars to the center's budget from cuts proposed by the president's annual budget. NAST urged Congress to make these restorations to protect Langley's mission areas where it has world-class expertise and capability that went unprotected from budget-cutters in the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Langley is a world leader in research in aeronautics and atmospheric science; unfortunately, the Bush budgets have cut aeronautics by a factor of two and atmospheric science by about one-third. In fact, every year Bush presented a budget to the Congress that had negative consequences for Langley, NAST has worked with the Congress to restore a portion of the reductions.

This presents problems for Langley management, which is primarily guided in its long- term planning by the president's budget, which is always a five-year plan. Congress enacts only a one-year budget each year. Thus center management must plan its programs, work force and operations based on the five-year downward spiraling budget, and then each year at the last minute, restore some activities based on the congressionally enacted budget. This is no way to run a world-class research laboratory.

With the election of Barack Obama, we in Hampton Roads have a brief window of opportunity to reverse this sad state of affairs for Langley. The incoming administration is right now deciding on the direction of NASA's programs for the next four to eight years.

Langley's expertise and capabilities could support the Obama administration's focus on economic and environmental issues very well. We just have to make them aware.

Langley's atmospheric science team is a world leader in measuring and predicting global climate change. This team could provide much of the vital science the new administration will need as it decides on policies to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. The twin challenges of climate change and a post-peak oil energy situation will also demand a major reinvention of air transportation, a vital asset of our economy. Again, Langley has the expertise and capability to be a leader in this reinvention.

Our job as a community team is to make sure that the new administration recognizes these challenges, and recognizes that NASA and in particular NASA Langley can be major contributors to meeting the challenges. We only have a brief window to set the stage. Six months to a year from now, NASA's direction within the Obama administration will be defined.

If Langley is well positioned within that direction, Hampton Roads can be assured of a vital Langley for the next four to eight years. If it is not so positioned, we could very well lose the center. The time to act is now.

Dwoyer retired from NASA Langley Research Center as associate director for operations. He is project director for the Hampton Roads Research Partnership and a member of the NASA Aeronautics Support Team.